1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a finisher in a reproduction machine and in particular, to a finisher for providing books or booklets with printed bindings.
2. Description of Related Developments
It is known in the art to provide finishers for reproduction machines which can provide finished documents in several modes, such as unstapled sets of documents, stapled sets of documents, or bound books or booklets. Such finishers in combination with reproduction machines are shown for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,586,680 and 4,985,729. Although this equipment provides bound books, the bindings of such books are blank and, if labeling is desired, it must be applied in a separate step.
However, it has become increasingly important to produce completely labeled book as a part of the finishing operation. This enhances the usefulness of the booklet to the end user, aids in identifying reproduction job lots and decreases the overall production cost of the book.
An important design constraint for reproduction equipment is that the required floor space is minimized. Therefore, it is desirable to include the printing function in a document finisher without an appreciable increase in space requirements. Further, in order to limit development costs, it is useful to incorporate the printing function with minimal redesign of existing binding stations. Thus, the station must be compact and capable of being easily integrated into existing finishing equipment.